View full sizeHundreds of people gathered on Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, to pay their respects to Bailey Yelding, a former educator who became Daphne's first black mayor. Brian Kelly/Bkelly@al.com

DAPHNE, Alabama – Bailey Yelding was a racial trailblazer, winning appointment and then election by the people as the city’s first black mayor.

But he was not a bomb-thrower, his sister told a packed Daphne Civic Center gathering at a memorial service for the recently fallen mayor. Caroline Yelding recalled that the Baldwin County school system repeatedly passed him over for promotion when he was assistant principal at Fairhope High School.

Many family members were convicted that discrimination was the reason and assigned her the task of pressing him to file a lawsuit. He would have none of it, Yelding said.

“He said emphatically, ‘I am where I need to be to help these students. … I understand where I am, discrimination or not,’” she said.

Caroline Yelding offered personal details of her brother’s childhood.

“We were the first family in our community to get a television,” she said.

So Yelding would get up early on Saturday mornings to watch “Roy Rogers” and “Bozo the Clown,” inviting some 14 children from the neighborhood who had no TV.

“He would even make them snacks,” she said.

Later, Caroline Yelding recalled, her brother cast a protective shadow over her. She said she later learned that he insisted that his fraternity brothers keep their distance from her in college.

“I noticed that none of them ever asked me out on a date,” she said.

The Rev. Charles Jackson, the mayor’s pastor at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, delivered an impassioned eulogy, backed by a soulful choir. Mobile Mayor Sam Jones, Baldwin County Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack and elected officials from throughout Yelding’s native Baldwin County were among the hundreds who came to pay their respects.

“He did not give up. He fought a good fight,” Jackson said, referring to the cancer that claimed Yelding’s life on Jan. 22 at the age of 72. “He finished his course.”

Jackson lamented that Yelding did not have the opportunity to complete his term in office. But he said the mayor united Republicans, Democrats and independents, as well as blacks, whites and Hispanics.

“I wanted him to do four years,” he said. “In four months, he has brought this city together.”

Jackson managed to include a touch of humor in his speech, recalling the first time Yelding attended church as Daphne’s top leader.

“He’s the mayor of Daphne. But he’s not the mayor of Macedonia,” he said. “He was responsible for the city. But I was responsible for him.”

Today’s program included a proclamation by Daphne City Council President Ron Scott, who is serving as acting mayor. Scott told the audience that the council proclaimed Jan. 22-29 “Bailey Yelding Week.”

The Rev. Starling King alluded to Yelding’s accomplishments, both in education and politics, in a prayer of comfort.

“We thank you for the legacy Mayor Bailey Yelding has left behind,” he said.